March 21, 2018

Meet deborah cha blevins of KaliCollection in Northeast, at 285/85

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to deborah cha blevins.

deborah cha, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Decatur, where I always had an interest in history and fashion. As I graduated and entered the real work world I tried to figure out where and how I could use these two interests to start a career. I was watching an old movie from the 1940’s one day and figured that someone must have this amazing job of dressing and designing the people in movies… I was young and inspired, and decided to move to Hollywood and figure all of this out. I got a job as a waitress on Sunset Blvd, and waited for my ‘big break’, which was an apprenticeship at one of the costume houses in LA. It took me two years to land that job, but it was worth the wait. I became a costume supervisor, working for 32 years with an amazing group of designers, directors, actors and artisans on movies such as Wyatt Earp, Beloved, and That Thing You Do. A couple of years ago I moved back to Atlanta to be closer to family, and especially my mother who was getting older. I did a few shows in Atlanta, which was very difficult because the film business was just starting to take off here, and there were very few support services. So I decided to go all in and start a small specialty costume shop. For about a year and a half I drove from Atlanta to Chattanooga to Knoxville to Nashville- anywhere the road would take me!- collecting vintage clothing and goods. I scoured flea markets, antique malls, estate sales, yard sales…. I went in every dirty basement and every dark attic looking for that amazing vintage dress or suit or hat that had been pushed aside and buried. After I had collected what I thought was enough to supply the Atlanta film market here I opened the doors. We’ve never looked back… its amazing to collect bits and pieces of peoples history and family stories. What I’ve found out is that EVERYONE has something from the past. Whether its Grandma’s old apron, or Grandpa’s Sunday suit, we all keep clothing/accessories/jewelry from our past. I collect from all kinds of people and they are all thrilled to let go of all these sentimental pieces that they’ve been holding on to, and have them take on a new life where they can get used in a movie. And on the other side of the coin the film community here has been great as well. They appreciate having a source here in town that they can work with for their vintage/specialty needs.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Its not easy to start your own business…. I’ll tell you that!
For my business its not like I can just order up my inventory online, so the quest goes on. We go out every weekend looking for items to build our stock. Its fun but its also grueling. Another challenge is that people from a couple of decades ago were so much smaller that we are, so there’s a limited size range that needs to fit todays larger framed cast. You may find a fabulous mens suit, but its a size 38… not so much need for that for todays background…. You have to become super picky about what you choose to buy, and not just buy it because its vintage.
Most of the goods we buy have been store in attics and basements for 50 years or so and that presents a great set of challenges. Our stock has to be cleaned and repaired, and able to be worn by cast and background. My 78 year old mother has become ‘Stainmaster General’, and is the first stop for new stock. She’s learned how to soak out rust stains, old grungy stains, and bring whites back to their original state. We then have the items pressed and repaired so that they’re ready to go when pulled for a show. Its a whole process but we’ve got it down now.
I once bought about 600 pieces of clothing from a house that had been locked up since the seventies. There were amazing clothes in there from the 50’s thru the 70’s, all covered in a 60 year old layer of dust…. We boxed it all up, and went thru each box one at a time and worked with each piece to bring it back to life. It took about 4 months but we did it. Some of my nicest pieces came out of that house, and it was all just going to be thrown away….

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about KaliCollection – what should we know?
We specialize in Vintage Clothing and Goods that we rent to the film business not just here in Atlanta, but on both coasts. A whole show may take place in the 1950’s, or a modern show may have flashbacks to another decade. Set decorators may need vintage clothing as set dressing in a scene, or they may have a closet that is featured and they need to fill. We fill those needs with with stock that is hand selected, cleaned and repaired. Our shop is organized by decade so that its easy to navigate. We have over thirty years of experience doing movies, so we know what our client wants and needs. We work with all budgets, and strive to build relationships with the film community here to help each other grow in this booming industry.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Great product, friendly knowledgable staff, and a determination to help make things easy for our client. Its a stressful business, and we strive to provide an easy, smooth experience for our clients.

Pricing:

We work with big budgets, and we work with low budgets. We’ve even worked with shows with NO budgets!
We treat each show individually to make sure they get what they need to make their cast look great.

Contact Info: